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Funny - hilarious in places - but a tough act to sustain. Impressions are always better in short bursts; 90 minutes of Will Ferrell as George W. Bush does get a… MoreFunny - hilarious in places - but a tough act to sustain. Impressions are always better in short bursts; 90 minutes of Will Ferrell as George W. Bush does get a little tired. That said, if belaboured or not always laugh-out-loud funny, Ferrell has at the very least put together one scathing indictment of, possibly, the worst president in American history.

Aaron Neuwirth

George W. Bush: I was a simple, normal kid. I liked to do simple, normal things. Like shoot wrist rockets at a stray cat strapped to a propane tank. Just basic… MoreGeorge W. Bush: I was a simple, normal kid. I liked to do simple, normal things. Like shoot wrist rockets at a stray cat strapped to a propane tank. Just basic mischief, you know? Or like this one time, we shot up a sleeping hobo full of Novocaine, then we'd yell, "Pie on the windowsill!" And they'd wake up all numb and poor and we'd laugh. But that's just the kind of stuff you do growing up in Midland, when you're a young, precocious little thirty-year-old.
While not completely solid all the way through, this stand up show that Ferrell was putting on, following Bush's leave from the White House, which was then, in one particular show, captured as a 90 minute special, manages to have a good number of highlights and features a Bush performance that rivals Josh Brolin's in W.
Ferrell's Bush character is never about straight up mocking the man, but more of molding him into a particular persona and running with it. The special mixes actual quotes and situations, as well as outlandish tangents done under the guise of Ferrell's character creation. Late in the show there are legitimately intriguing moments as he blends the comedy with actual sincerity, which alone made me enjoy this much more.
Still, Ferrell as Bush has been a welcome performance since his days on SNL, so seeing a last hurrah for this character was enjoyable.
George W. Bush: They said, "Gore's calling again," I'm like, "What's his deal?" They said, "This time he's calling to take back his concession 'cause it's too close to call and they're doing a statewide recall," and I'm like, "You can't take it back!" He's like, "Yes I can." I'm like, "No you can't." He's like, "Says who?" And I paused and I thought real hard. Then I said, "The Geneva Convention, that's who," and I hung up the phone again. turns out I was wrong. The Geneva Convention pertains more to the laws that will govern the Moon once it's colonized. But it sure felt good at the moment.